Combining Work and Family Life

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Schoon ◽  
Leeni Hansson ◽  
Katariina Salmela-Aro
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Role Stress ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Full Time ◽  
National Child Development Study ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Time Work ◽  
The Uk

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the combination of paid employment and taking care of children promotes or challenges the life satisfaction of married and divorced men and women in the UK, Estonia, and Finland. The UK sample stems from the National Child Development Study, at age 42 (N = 10280; 48% of men, 52% of women). The Estonian data come from a representative sample of 1164 participants (507 men, 657 women; mean age 42). The Finnish data stems from an ongoing longitudinal study on 1390 participants (447 men and 943 women; mean age = 41). The results showed that in all three countries women report higher levels of life satisfaction than men, couples are generally more satisfied than divorcees, and those who are employed are generally more satisfied with their lives than those who are not. Second, for men in general as well as for divorced women higher levels of life satisfaction appear to be associated with full-time work. Third, men and women pursuing a professional career are more satisfied with their lives than men and women in unskilled jobs. Finally, having a child shows no significant association with life satisfaction in any of our three countries, although there were significant interactions between gender, marital status, employment, and parenthood. Divorced women in all three countries appear to be more satisfied with their lives if they do not have children, especially after adjusting life satisfaction by occupational status. Findings are discussed with regard to role stress and role accumulation theories.

scholarly journals Flexible Working and Unpaid Overtime in the UK: The Role of Gender, Parental and Occupational Status

2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung ◽  
Mariska van der Horst
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Working Mothers ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Uk

AbstractRecent studies have shown that flexible boundaries between work and family may make employees work harder and longer. Yet most studies were not able to show whether there are differences across different types of flexible working arrangements, and whether this relationship may only hold for certain groups of workers. We examine how three different types of flexible working arrangements, that is schedule control, flexitime, and teleworking, are associated with an increase in unpaid overtime hours of workers in the UK using the Understanding Society data from 2010 to 2015 and fixed effects panel regression models. Results show that the flexible arrangements that were introduced primarily for work-life balance purposes, i.e., flexitime and teleworking, do not necessarily increase unpaid overtime hours significantly. On the other hand, workers’ control over their schedule, mainly introduced as a part of high-performance strategies, leads to increased unpaid overtime hours. This is especially true for professional men, and women without children, especially those working full-time, and surprisingly part-time working mothers. The results of this study point to the importance of distinguishing between different groups of workers as well as between different types of arrangements when examining outcomes of flexible working. Furthermore, the results of the study contribute to the argument that performance enhancing flexible working arrangements can potentially exacerbate gender inequalities in the labour market by enabling men to commit more time to their jobs, while for women, especially full-time working mothers, this may be less possible.

scholarly journals Gender Roles and Employment Pathways of Older Women and Men in England

SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401774269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariska van der Horst ◽  
David Lain ◽  
Sarah Vickerstaff ◽  
Charlotte Clark ◽  
Ben Baumberg Geiger
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Marital Status ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Part Time Work

In the context of population aging, the U.K. government is encouraging people to work longer and delay retirement, and it is claimed that many people now make “gradual” transitions from full-time to part-time work to retirement. Part-time employment in older age may, however, be largely due to women working part-time before older age, as per a U.K. “modified male breadwinner” model. This article therefore separately examines the extent to which men and women make transitions into part-time work in older age, and whether such transitions are influenced by marital status. Following older men and women over a 10-year period using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this article presents sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression analyses. Little evidence is found for people moving into part-time work in older age. Typically, women did not work at all or they worked part-time (with some remaining in part-time work and some retiring/exiting from this activity). Consistent with a “modified male breadwinner” logic, marriage was positively related to the likelihood of women belonging to typically “female employment pathway clusters,” which mostly consist of part-time work or not being employed. Men were mostly working full-time regardless of marital status. Attempts to extend working lives among older women are therefore likely to be complicated by the influence of traditional gender roles on employment.

scholarly journals Changing dynamics in female employment around childbirth

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Dirk Vlasblom ◽  
Joop Schippers
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The Uk

There is a strong effect of childbirth on female labour supply.This effect, however, is changing over time.This article uses panel data on the last two decades on three European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, the UK) to study changes in female labour force behaviour around childbirth and tries to find an explanation for these changes by looking at differences between the three countries.We conclude that there are substantial differences in participation patterns between the three countries in our study and that policy measures and institutions such as childcare that make the costs of combining work and family lower relative to being a full-time mother seem to increase female participation rates.

scholarly journals Cross-spousal influences on mature-aged Australians’ transitions in and out of employment 2001–2017

2020 ◽  
pp. 002218562095668
Author(s):  
Lyn Craig ◽  
Brendan Churchill
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Added Worker Effect ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Gender Patterns ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

This article uses data from the longitudinal Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey to examine cross-spousal influences on workforce transitions by men ( n = 4667) and women ( n = 5051) aged 50–69. We assess how gender patterns in employment (full- and part-time work) and non-employment activity (unemployment, non-employment and homemaking) changed among this age group over the period 2001–2017, which included the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008. Notwithstanding that more men than women were in full-time work, and more women than men were employed part time or were homemakers, over the period there was an overall rise in employment for both genders, which following the GFC continued most strongly for women. Random effects logistic regression on partnered men and women showed that prior to the GFC one spouse transitioning out of the labour market was associated with significantly higher odds of the other spouse also doing so. This implies coordination, for example spouses retiring together. In contrast, following the GFC, one spouse leaving paid employment was associated with higher odds of the other taking up work or increasing their hours, suggesting that the economic slowdown encouraged an added worker effect in those households, with one spouse compensating for the job loss of the other. The finding was apparent for both men and women.

How working hours influence the life satisfaction of childless men and women, fathers and mothers in Germany

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Schröder
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Household Work ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Rational Maximization ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis paper uses the German Socio-Economic Panel to show that fathers – and to a lesser degree childless men and women, are most satisfied with life when working full-time or longer. In contrast, whether mothers spend more or less hours in employment hardly affects their life satisfaction. The rational maximization of income as postulated by family economics cannot explain these results, as they are even found in households where women earn more than men. Because they are also found among those who hold secure jobs and have very little household work and childcare duties, these results contradict the predictions by expansionist role theory that men and women are better off in egalitarian employment arrangements. The results change little over time, with cohorts or with educational group-membership. For men, the results therefore fit best with the predictions of traditional role theory, which suggests that people are most satisfied when adhering to stereotypical gender roles.

Willingness to Take Legal Action in Wrongful Dismissal Cases: Perceptual Differences between Men and Women

1992 ◽  
Vol 74 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1073-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Grant ◽  
Terry H. Wagar
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Legal Action ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Court Action ◽  
Perceptual Differences ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Wrongful Dismissal

146 business students with full-time work experience participated in a study of dismissal from employment. Based on self-ratings, men were more likely than women to favor court action in the event of dismissal.

scholarly journals Part-time strategies of women and men of childbearing age in the Netherlands and Australia

2019 ◽  
pp. 265-288
Author(s):  
Mara A. Yerkes ◽  
Belinda Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Childbearing Age ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Market Effects ◽  
Work Strategies ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Part Time Work

This chapter contributes to the dualization debate by investigating the extent to which gender unequal part-time work patterns reflect insider - outsider labour market effects (e.g. based on gender and occupational effects) by comparing the Netherlands - a country with high protection of part-time workers - with Australia - a country with minimal protection. We focus on the part-time work strategies of men and women of childbearing age, bridging dualization theory with work-family theory. We explore both the extent of dualization between men and women (how women and men differ in their part-time employment patterns) as well as possible dualization effects within part-time work, considering variation in part-time work strategies among women in both countries. Our findings suggest dualization between part-time and full-time workers exists in both countries. Crucially, we find that dualization exists within part

scholarly journals Work–Family Interference: Nurses in Norway and Finland

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bente Abrahamsen ◽  
Kari Anne Holte ◽  
Marjukka Laine
Keyword(s):  
Work And Family ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Work Schedules ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Family Harmony ◽  
Job Rewards ◽  
Part Time Work

Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate the level of work–family inter-ference (WFI) for part-time nurses in Norway and Finland. Part-time work is usually cited as a desirable way in which to facilitate work and family harmony. However, the opportunity to work part-time in professions may be associated with greater difficulties and challenges than commonly presumed. Part-time professionals are often stigmatized as being less committed to work and report fewer job rewards than colleagues in full-time positions. This study challenges the notion of the desir-able consequences of work hour flexibility concerning the integration of work and family. Part-time nurses in Norway and Finland report an equal level or even higher levels of interference than nurses in full-time positions. A disproportional distri-bution of inconvenient work schedules appears to be a central explanation for the results reported by Norwegian nurses, but to a lesser degree by Finnish nurses.

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